The present invention relates in general to marking and reading media and more particularly to a system and a method for converting subsequent marks made on media with a marking agent into a digital form.
Documents containing various types of data and printed on a variety of media are widely used to convey information. Frequently these documents are created and then distributed to others for receiving their comments, edits and review. For example, a document created in a word processing application and printed on an inkjet printer may be distributed to and reviewed by others for receiving their edits and comments. Typically, edits and comments are conveyed by placing edit and comment markings directly on the original document. These additional markings can include interlineations, annotations and other additions. These additional markings, which can be alphanumeric characters or other types of symbols, are usually created by a manual marking device (handwriting), such as a pencil, or a machine marking device, such as a typewriter or printer. Whichever type of marking device is used to add the markings to the original document, the marking process results in a new document.
Since the new document contains non-digital information, namely the additional markings, it is difficult to manipulate and distribute the new document to others. One way to distribute the new document is to photocopy it and physically deliver a copy to others. However, because the markings are not in digital form, they are difficult to incorporate into the original document using existing digital applications. Although a digital scanning device can be used to convert the markings into digital form, this method has several disadvantages.
The primary disadvantage of using a digital scanning device is that the results are usually unreliable and unacceptable. This is because the placement of the markings is often between or over original material of the document. This can obscure or mingle the markings with the original material and cause the contrast between the markings and original material to be very low or nonexistent. Consequently, scanning devices usually cannot distinguish between the markings and the original material. This typically creates misinterpreted or ambiguous digital conversions of the markings. Thus, there exists a need for a system and method for accurately and efficiently separating and converting subsequent markings that are made on media into a digital form.
To overcome the limitations in the prior art as described above, and to overcome other limitations that will become apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, the present invention is embodied in a system and method for creating markings on media and separating and converting the markings into a digital form. The system of the present invention includes a marking device and an illumination digital scanning device.
The marking device for creating additional markings and subsequent marks can be any suitable marking device, such as a manual marking device or a machine marking device. The marking device preferably contains a marking agent, such as a high-contrast marking agent. The marking device dispenses the marking agent onto the media. The manual marking device can be a manual marking implement, such as a pen for creating handwritten markings. A pen manual marking device preferably contains ink that can be comprised of a high-contrast marking agent or a mixture of the agent with suitable ink. Alternatively, the manual marking device can be a pencil for creating handwritten markings and having suitable pencil writing material, which is typically some type of graphite containing a binder. The pencil writing material can be comprised of the high-contrast marking agent or a mixture of the agent with suitable pencil graphite.
The machine marking device can be a machine capable of printing markings, such as a printer or a typewriter. The machine marking device preferably contains the high-contrast marking agent. For example, for printer marking devices, such as an inkjet printer, the high-contrast marking agent or a mixture of the agent with suitable ink can be used to create the markings. For a typewriter machine marking device, the high-contrast marking agent can be embedded within a typewriter ribbon. For a photovoltaic laser printer operating with laser toner, the high contrast marking agent can be embedded in the laser toner.
The high-contrast marking agent can be any suitable chemical that emits a certain radiation frequency, such as the strongest radiation frequency, when illuminated by an illumination set of wavelengths or frequencies. The illumination and radiation frequencies can be the same or different frequencies depending on the chemical. An illumination digital scanning device can be used to separate and convert the markings created with the high-contrast marking agent into a digital form. In particular, the scanning device emits a set of illumination frequencies which causes the marking agent to radiate at a set of radiation frequencies. If an emitive marking agent is used, the marking agent preferably radiates at a different set of radiation frequencies than the set of frequencies emitted by the scanning device. If a reflective marking agent is used, the marking agent preferably radiates at the same set of radiation frequencies as the set of frequencies emitted by the scanning device. In both cases, high contrast is provided between the markings created with the marking agent and the original material, thereby allowing the scanning device to easily distinguish between the two.
A digital converter, such as a CCD (charge-coupled-device), can be used to convert the detected radiation into digital electronic form, thereby converting the markings into computer readable digital information representing the markings. After conversion, the digital information representing the markings can be easily manipulated by computer software applications, such as optical character recognition (OCR) applications, and widely distributed using electronic messaging. Other aspects and advantages of the present invention as well as a more complete understanding thereof will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention. Moreover, it is intended that the scope of the invention be limited by the claims and not the preceding summary or the following detailed description.